The Heart Of The Matter (AU)
by grandegrassi
Summary: Imogen Moreno, a very openly pansexual quirky senior with a dark past and family problems galore, & Miles Hollingsworth, a closeted pansexual sophomore rich boy with a gay best friend-Winston, meet in a meeting for the revived Degrassi LGBTQ club and things end up heated. When Imogen and Miles end up hooking up, will it just be a casual open thing, or will feelings be developed?
1. Message!

Hi! So, I kind of lost my password to here. I really miss writing fics though. So I'm bringing you something new! I'm going to try to update every day or two with a chapter... The decision of the story I'm writing is... (drumroll) Imogen and Miles! If you have any other requests for ships that'd be rad as heck but I've been thinking of this story a while, so... Hey! Let me know what you think of chapter one! 


	2. Chapter 1

As soon as they walked into the room, Miles started groaning to his best friend Winston. Winston knew it was a planned thing. Act like you don't want to be in the LGBTQ club so no one suspects your dirty little secret, blah blah blah... Winston saw no point in being closeted, but he knew Miles had his reasons. The two sophomore boys looked at the pathetic turn out. It was 10 minutes after the meeting in the Degrassi gym was supposed to start, and there was 12 people there. There were about 40 seats...Seemed like whoever was running this gig thought there'd be a better turnout... Awkward.

"Dude, what are we doing here? This is g-" Winston cut off his best friend before he called the situation 'gay'. He usually let it slide, but this crowd, though small, would definitely mind if a guy was calling things gay. At a meeting FOR people who weren't...well, straight.

A cute girl with cat ears and big old glasses on her face stood up in front of the group. "Hi there! I'm Imogen Moreno!" She spoke with a pitch that Miles found annoying-like a dog whistle or something. "Anyway, there's punch on that table over there..." She lamely pointed to the corner of the gym. "We're gonna wait a little bit for my co-leader Adam, so enjoy yourselves, socialize! I mean, we all have something in common, right?" She was awkward as hell...

Winston poked Miles. "Let's go socialize..." He said, obviously eying a blonde boy who was-in Miles' secret opinion, pretty damn cute... "I'm Tristan, and you are?" The blonde boy, Tristan now, spoke to Winston and Miles, though he obviously had his eye on Miles... "Uh, Miles Hollingsworth. I'm here with my gay...my um, gay friend, not me... Winston!" Miles shoved Winston into Tristan and awkwardly speed-walked away...

"Why do I have to be so damn awkward with stuff like this?" Miles mumbled to himself, as he walked toward the door, hoping for a way out... But of course- he tripped... On the annoying shrill voice girl Imogen. "Oopsie daisy! Sorry bout that!" She hopped up in an annoyingly giddy way and held out her hand to help Miles up. He just ignored the hand and got himself up. "Yeah, whatever..." He mumbled to the girl, who was still very cute... just not harboring a cute personality it seemed.

"Hey, what's your name?" Imogen said, as Miles walked away. "Why does it matter to you?" Miles snapped back, obviously annoyed for some unknown stupid reason. Imogen looked down at her shoes, her mismatched socks that looked dumb as hell to Miles... "Just, trying to be friendly..." Imogen said in a sad voice. "This isn't the turnout I expected... Fions would be less than impressed. She taught me how to throw a good party..." Miles was obviously trying to show how not interested he was, but Imogen went on. "Fions...Fiona, my ex girlfriend!" "Cool?" Miles honestly cared a little, but it wasn't worth his time to care about people who won't ever mean anything to him. That's something his father always taught him.

But then something shifted. A feeling in his gut...He noticed the pretty girl named Imogen start to tear up... Was he that mean? "Imogen?" Miles took a deep breath, fucking up his 'I don't care' facade for good in this group-since he noticed almost everyone had given their attention to the two... The mean guy and the crying leader... "Why are you crying?" He asked cautiously, knowing he now had to really watch his words... This group, though small, seemed to adore little Imogen with her cat ears and loud voice and mismatched socks...

"I'm-uh, I'm good. Just a lot riding on this meeting and my co-leader isn't showing, I feel like I kinda messed up, y'know?" She said, wiping her tears away with a handkerchief with bottles of ketchup on it...Bottles of ketchup. Miles tried not to laugh or something. "I mean, it's not too bad. 12 people? Better than zero. Your co-leader was probably just busy... If you want-" Miles felt the question come up out of his mouth without permission like word vomit... "I can fill in as co-leader today." This made Imogen smile... Of course. "Okey Dokes!" She chirped, skipping like a little girl to the stage. This was going to be a long meeting...

But it wasn't. It flew by. Turned out Imogen and Miles had chemistry as leaders. With cheesy get-to-know each other games set up by Imogen, the most terrifying being "Tell your story"- Which meant, get in a group of two, tell that person about your sexuality struggle, then switch to a new partner after 10 minutes. Miles was so lucky he was up on the stage and didn't have to do this game... That was, until the last round when Imogen grabbed his hand and made him face her. "Tell your story." She said, sitting down and expecting him to sit with her.

"No." Miles replied, angrily. He knew anger wasn't the answer- he'd told his dad this a million times, but sometimes you feel as if you have to... Or at least Miles does.

"I'll tell you mine!" Imogen speaks still so annoyingly. "What if I don't give a shit?" Miles replies coldly... He'd actually love to hear how Imogen got so confident with being whatever she is, but he can't tell her about himself... He just can't. Nobody knew. Not even Winston... Miles was sure Winston had some sort of idea-but he'd never actually out & said "I like boys and girls".

"Okay..." Imogen replies, obviously annoyed. "Just trying to be friends. No reason to be like that."

"Like what, bitch?"

"Gosh, okay... Let's not right now because I need to run my meeting."

Miles had never been so annoyed with a human being more than he was with Imogen in this very moment. He was infuriated. He just shook his head and stormed off, not giving space for anyone to even try to follow him. He didn't want to talk. Even though he knew he'd have to talk to Winston-since that was his ride home today... He didn't want to think about Imogen Moreno or his confusion or the way he felt. That's not how Miles Hollingsworth operates. Miles Hollingsworth is the LADIES man. Only ladies. He was the guy who had tons of friends and didn't have suicidal thoughts because of all the stress of hiding his identity.

The boy he was today yearned for the old Miles. The one who was adored by all and was popular and happy. But things change...

Miles waited on the front steps for Winston for what seemed like forever. When he finally heard the door behind him open, he was relieved. "Let's go, Chu." But it wasn't Chu...Not even close.

It was Imogen. Imogen Moreno. The source of his current bad mood and headache. "Go away please." Miles wasn't sure this was what he even wanted, but whatever... Gotta keep that strong wall up, right?

"Listen, can I just say something? I see you. I can see through it. You're pansexual. You're not gay or bi. I can just tell these things. You're not a bad person. This angry guy I'm seeing-not you. Not really. I can see deep down. You're a good person under that mask of badass Miles. So take it off."

For some reason hearing this attractive girl say "take it off" made Miles tingly. He grabbed her face and almost kissed her... "Thanks." He said, letting go of her face in the most awkward way. "I'll uhh-remember that. Is the meeting over?"

Imogen nodded. "Sorry I upset you, some people are just private people and I'm intrusive as hell sometimes. Please forgive that." She could feel her heart racing from the almost kiss.

"It's cool." Miles said nonchalantly. Then Winston came out and saved the day and prevented either something awkward or a kiss or something like that... Not that Miles would mind kissing Imogen-would he? He barely knew the girl. But he knew his mind was stuck on the girl with the cat ears and the quirky personality. So not his usual rich girl type with blonde hair and a porsche by age 16, no... Imogen was all sorts of fascinating.

He had to get his mind straight-and maybe the rest of him?


End file.
